Interesting question. Personally I like to escape reality into some other world that does operate like our own. This is one of the reasons why I really don't like reality shows on the tube, I deal with reality every day, the one thing I do not want when sit down to a program is reality.

For me it is a conversation with other generations, cultures, experiences. If I give the authors my time they promise to tell me a story they believe I should know. They open up doors to unfamiliar worlds, show me the inside of people I don't know yet are strangely familiar with.

I wonder if storytelling and listening/reading/watching actually serves some sort of social bonding purpose. Being able to experience things as others experience them is probably good for empathy, which is good for social cooperation, which is good for everyone.

Actually, it's an interesting question. I was outside a few weeks back and my neighbour was reading on his front step and I asked what he was reading. His reply of "oh, just some fiction" made me stop and think. Do we really value plain old stories so little? I know I don't.

Fictional stories can come in many forms for me. Some make me question the world, some give me insights into the human condition, some teach me about places I've never been, and some are as has been said just simple escapism. Just some fiction, indeed.

An example of why I like to read fiction: I was reading "I love New york" by Lindsey Kelk not so long ago. It's about a girl from London who gets cheated on by her boyfriend and she flees to New York to forget everything (chicklit). The book made me feel what it's like to live in trendy New York and I liked that.